The thrill of a chopper - versus the practicality of a big, long-distance touring bike:
Of the custom rigid Harley, Russ writes:
'Built the Chop from frame up. This machine is the one we built last year. 200 series rigid frame. 4" backbone stretch, 2 up, 2 out, 44 degrees rake, 6" over forks. 113 cube motor thats churning out 120hp on the wheel, with 125lbs. of torque. A real ball smasher. Have had nothing but troubles with it. The rigid was not the right place to put a motor like that. It shakes really-really-really bad. So lots of stuff falls off, or gets ruined from vibrations.
BUT DAMN..........SHE DOES RUN. I can pull it hard, and get 125 in 4th gear with 2 more to go. It eats up crotch rockets and spits em out. Have smoked soooooooooooo many. Kids pull up, see a fat man on that bike and think they can have some fun with me. HAH! 'Light turns, get her rolling, then hit it. All they see is tire smoke and a blue flash. DA FAT MAN CAN RIDE STILL!
And as for the FXD35 Super Glide:
These are my toys. The white one is an 06 FXD35. Anniversary model of the Super Glide. Wonderful machine. I rode it from Nebraska to the West coast last month...
But the choice is yours! (Personally, if I was going for a Harley, it would have to be the Dyna Wide Glide...)
BigBikeCruising.com will soon have it's own Forums, Gallery and Blog spot for enthusiasts of over-sized motorcycles. For the mean-time, please do make use of the free gallery space and blogs at ArtFreaks.com to post pictures of - and stories about your bike and your long distance riding trips.
Artists, photographers and bikers of all levels - from beginner to professional - are welcome to sign-up for their free membership of the ArtFreaks.com Forums, Gallery and Blog Spot. Members can start their own blog and thy can discuss the arts, biking and life in general in the Forums. As of April 2008, there were no disc space limitations and members could have as large a portfolio of images as they wanted!
Big bike cruising… The joy’s, freedom and tribulations of the open road! …It is not so much where you are going but how you get there! This website is being designed as a base-station for a community of bikers around the world, who just love riding their big motorcycles on the open road. It will have a set of Forums where riders can meet, interact and exchange news, views and stories of life on the road. There will also be a free integrated photo Gallery for members and guests to upload pictures of their bikes and the places they have been to. For those of us with a bent for writing, there will also be a Blog spot where we can write our own online diaries of life on the road.
Why do people ride motorbikes? For the site-owner, it is nothing more than the utter sense of freedom and being in-touch with the elements that only two wheels can provide… The ability to by-pass annoying traffic snarl-ups. Being able to pull-up by the side of the road and admire a view or take photographs more-or-less anywhere you want to. Oh! And the feeling of the wind in your face and down your neck as you wind on down the road! Getting on a bike and setting-off with only a vague idea of where you might be going provides never-ending adventures
It has long been the site-owners dream to buy a second-hand Harley-Davidson - or maybe a Triumph, (preferably the Rocket!) – and cruise the length and breadth of the Philippines. Could be a little while yet but I like to be prepared!! Hence the early start with this website… Just getting my foot in the door, so to speak! If anyone is interested in this new website for bikers, please contact the site-owner and let me have your ideas. If you’ve got any big bike cruising pictures that you want to upload, or content for the Forums or Blogs, you are welcome to post as a guest - although it would be much nicer if you could sign-up for your free membership and become one of the pioneering members of this website!
Some of the best bikes - (but by no means the only ones!) - for long-distance cruising are the larger Harleys, like the Road King and the Fat Boy. More than merely modes of transport, every Harley-Davidson motorbike, whether a standard production model or a highly-customized machine, is a work of art. Harley riders tend to be as passionate about cleaning, polishing and shining their machines as they are about riding them! And, apart from their looks and their massive V-twin engines, what really sets the Harley-Davidson apart from all other bikes, of course, is that wonderful sound they make. So much the better then, if you live somewhere like the Philippines where you can get away with very loud exhaust pipes!!
Visit the official Harley-Davidson website here
From 1903 until now! The history of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company goes back a long way - and it makes fascinating reading. The story starts something like this, (from the official Harley-Davidson website:)
In 1903 William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson made available to the public, the first production Harley-Davidson® motorcycle. The bike was built to be a racer, with a 3-1/8 inch bore and 3-1/2 inch stroke. The factory in which they worked was a 10 x 15-foot wooden shed with the words "Harley-Davidson Motor Company" crudely scrawled on the door. Arthur's brother Walter later joined their efforts...
Read about the history of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company here
